iPhone project: weak vents, strong handle = new mounting bracket
by apexad on Jan.25, 2010, under News
Awhile back, I bought a bracketron, inc. iPhone holder from Best Buy. It’s quite an awesome iPhone holder, as it swivels horizontal or vertical, has cushy foam for a tight squeeze, and a few other nice features. However, it had 1 flaw. It attached to the vent of your car. Perhaps my Jeep Liberty just has weak vents, but I think it more has to do with that the weight of the holder, the phone, and my mophie juice pack is just too much for any vent.
So, I had 2 options to consider. The first one would be to abandon the vent mount and drop $30 on a windshield mount. The second option was to make a few trips to Home Depot, and for less than $5, retrofit the vent holder onto a new custom mount.
I chose option 2, and the results are damn awesome if I do say so myself. In front of my passenger seat is this large handle that served no really good purpose, until now.
The custom mount is made using PVC Pipe, a 45 degree angle bracket, a t-brakcet, and a 90 degree angle bracket. Both the t-bracket and 90 degree angle bracket are threaded on the ends facing the passanger so that I can add male adapters to hold the thing up. Un-screw the adapters and the arm falls through, and can be removed.
The old bracketron swivel assembely was modified a little bit using a drill as a dremel tool so that I could attach it to the PVC Pipe with a u-bolt.
It works like a charm, and now all that’s left to do is paint it. I’ll post again when it’s 100% complete.
I’d like to point out, I was a little inspired, by this post on modmyi.com/instructables
February 3rd, 2010 on 5:09 am
I thought this thing was genius. I couldn’t find a single mount online that would work to my liking for my own 2005 Liberty. I saw your project and I knew that was precisely what I wanted. I hope you don’t mind, but I took your idea:
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu230/Lunpandoxtria/customjeepmount.jpg
I credit this URL to everyone I talk to about it, though. I had to make a few tiny modifications, as the elbow and T-bracket didn’t seem to fit around the handle as well as it seems to in your photos, but I’ve managed to get it to where it will fit snugly. My only minor problem is that it scratches up the handle a bit, but I can think of ways to counter this.
You didn’t give very particular instructions, but I managed to replicate the mount and I’m pretty confident it will work. I needed a mount to hold my phone so I could use its GPS app for long drives, and suction cups just never worked well for me. I broke my old GPS device because the cup came loose in the middle of trips, and fell until it just stopped working. Now I’ve got a sturdy, versatile mount, and all I have to do is paint it. I’m thinking satin black.
I just wanted to thank you for the idea.
February 3rd, 2010 on 4:54 pm
I’m glad you found this post! I think this will definitely become the standard for custom Jeep Liberty mounts. That handle is just the only thing we have to use to attach a mount.
I guess I made this post as more as an informational thing, rather than instructions. From the picture though it looks like you figured it all out.
Only thing I want to mention that I hope you figured out…I super-glued all the PVC Piping parts together.
Also, I’ll be posting an update to this post soon enough, as I’m almost done painting the bracket.
February 4th, 2010 on 9:06 am
Yeah. Super-gluing the base piping parts together was the only way to get it to stay on the handle, and to stay tight. I haven’t glued the arm to the base because I still need to try it out and I’m not sure whether it will be necessary, though if I don’t seem to need to move the arm then I may as well glue it in place.
I’m going to at least sand down the PVC parts before painting them, and maybe buy some adhesion promoter from an auto parts store at the recommendation of a friend, and then use some black satin Rust-oleum spraypaint that works for plastic surfaces. Is that more or less how you’re painting it?
February 6th, 2010 on 9:36 pm
I glued the bar into the 45 degree bracket, and I actually regret that a bit, because I kind of wish I would have turned it in towards the windshield a bit more.
I sanded down the PVC parts and just used flat black spray paint. After the first coat, I sanded again as on some of the brackets the paint tends to run a little bit. The second time painting I was a little more careful, and I think the result is pretty good.